The Pigeon Detectives are an English indie rock band from Rothwell, West Yorkshire, who formed in 2004.
They have been championed by such well known DJs as Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, and performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2006, where they were tagged "the band most likely to leap to the main stage in 2007" in an NME review. However, the band returned to the festivals in 2007 and again performed on the NME stage.
They supported Dirty Pretty Things while they toured in spring 2006. In early November 2006 they supported fellow Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs, who are known to be fans of the band. On 8 July 2007, they played on the Radio 1 NME Stage in front of thousands at T in the Park. The performance was televised and shown later that day on BBC3. They went on to perform their biggest show ever at Oxegen 2008 which was beamed around Europe on MTV.
Up to the end of 2008 the band had released two albums, selling over 500,000 copies in the UK.
Speaking about the name drummer Jimmi Naylor said: "I never liked the name at first. But it's stuck - and it's probably got us more attention having a silly name.
"It came from an Australian guy called Steve who we met at the Leeds Festival. We were just discussing band names and he came up with The Pigeon Detectives. It became an in-joke for the rest of the festival.
"We thought nothing of it, but when it came to our first gig in Leeds the promoter was saying,'What's your name?' We were like 'Oh, um The Pigeon Detectives.' "
After finishing the Emergency tour at the back end of 2008 the band took a little time out. They have been demoing songs over the course of the year in between festival slots, the last of which is headlining the Underage Festival in London. They are also working on a new album.
In October 2009, the band recorded and released a cover of "Tainted Love" (made famous by Leeds band Soft Cell), with all proceeds going to charity to help neglected children in Leeds.
The Pigeon Detectives toured as special guests with Manchester band James in December 2010.
The band's 3rd album, "Up, Guards And At 'Em!'", was released on April 4, 2011, with the lead single being "Done In Secret". The album peaked at only #30 on the UK charts. The single failed to chart altogether, because it was on limited release for Record Store Day to 500 copies so it wouldn't be possible to chart as the vinyl release didn't correspond with the itunes release.
Discography: 2007: Wait for Me 2008: Emergency 2011: Up, Guards And At 'Em!
